E. was born on 27 June 1894 in Kiev, Ukraine. His parents were merchants. 

E. studied in a cheder and at a commercial school. At the age of ten he had a child’s role in “The Child Thief” with Russian actress Drosdo. Later he acted in other children’s plays.

In 1907 he arrived in America and then acted with various Ukrainian itinerant troupes. In 1928 he began acting in Yiddish at the Yiddish theatre in Newark (whose director was Sidney Hart).

From 1919-20 he was stage manager with Emanuel Richter at Schnitzer’s Art Theatre, then worked two seasons with Rudolf Schildkraut. 

Later, he worked with various troupes under Julius Nathanson in Boston. He was also in 1927-28 in Toronto, 1928-29 in Philadelphia, 1931-32 at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, 1932-33 at the Casino Theatre, Philadelphia; then he was engaged in Toronto, Canada.

From 1911-14, E. participated in Libin’s studio in Philadelphia and in films, e.g.  “The Shake of Destiny”, “The Bomb”, etc.